(AFP Photo)
The Salafi Al-Nour Party announced early Monday its withdrawal from the roadmap proposed by the armed forces following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.
Nader Bakkar, Al-Nour Party spokesman, said the party has decided on an “immediate withdrawal from all negotiation routes as an initial reaction to the Republican Guard massacre.”
Clashes erupted between pro-Morsi protesters sitting-in at the Republican Guard headquarters and army personnel Monday morning leaving at least 51 killed.
“We will not remain silent over this massacre,” Bakkar said on his official twitter account. “We wanted to prevent bloodshed, but here it is being shed in floods.”
Party Chairman Youness Makhyoun announced the party’s full withdrawal from the “so-called roadmap” announced by General Commander of the Armed Forces Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi. He also added the party will no longer interact with interim president Adly Mansour.
The Al-Nour Party has rejected two prime minister nominations so far proposed by the presidency.
On Saturday, they announced their disapproval of the appointment of Al-Dostour Party and National Salvation Front (NSF) leader Mohamed ElBaradei as prime minister.
Party deputy chairman Ashraf Thabet said that the party’s objection to ElBaradei’s appointment had nothing to do with his character. He added that the party believes that the most fitting candidate for this post would be someone with an economic background and without any political affiliations.
On Sunday, the party also announced its disapproval of appointing Ziad Baha Al-Din, economic expert and leading figure of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, as prime minister and ElBaradei as vice president.
NSF leading figure and Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby founder Hamdeen Sabahy told Reuters on Monday that an immediate formation of a transitional cabinet is in order. Sabahy said that a “grave political vacuum” surfaced after the Republican Guards clashes, adding that forming a cabinet would help fill in that “vacuum”.
Sabahy criticised the late appointment of a new Prime Minister, adding that the interim presidency cannot wait. The leftist leader blamed the delay on Al-Nour Party. He told Reuters that although he prefers Al-Nour Party’s contribute to the new cabinet, he doesn’t see a reason for them to possess a “veto” power over the choice of prime minister, given they didn’t take part either in the 25 January protests or the 30 June protests.
A presidency spokesman told Reuters Monday morning that the Republican Guard headquarters clashes will not stall the efforts of forming a new cabinet.
